Torchlight

Torchlight w-Honor Roll Fall 2013

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Physical therapy students ready
dad for daughter's big day
Don Fields' steps were slow and
painstaking, but they were beautiful for
those in attendance at Eva and Brent
Schwartz' wedding in July.
Fields is still recovering from the
effects of the stroke he suffered in 2010.
But he managed to accompany his
daughter in her walk down the aisle, give
a toast and dance with the bride, while
nearly a dozen students from Sac State
reveled in the emotional scene.
More than 18 months earlier, Eva
Schwartz had enlisted Sac State physical
therapy and speech pathology and
audiology students to help her father,
Don, slowly progress from bedridden
with a bleak prognosis, to cheery and
increasingly mobile.
"They saved my father's life," says
Schwartz. "This has given my dad a
standard of life that he wouldn't have
had." In appreciation for the care the
students provided, Schwartz encouraged
donations to the Department of Physical
Therapy and the Department of Speech
Pathology and Audiology as part of her
wedding gift registry.
Physical therapy doctoral students
"All these things that
they said he wouldn't
be able to do, he did.
It was an amazing
experience."
— Emily Johnson,
Physical therapy doctoral student
Emily Johnson, Courtney Hahn and
Chelsea McCormick continue to make
house calls to Fields' Sacramento home
three days a week. They play catch, go
on short walks and do other exercises to
build up his strength and coordination.
They were also on hand to witness his
performance at the wedding—a feat that
doctors and nurses all but ruled out just a
few years ago.
"All these things that they said he
wouldn't be able to do, he did," Johnson
says. "It was an amazing experience.
4
For information on supporting programs
at Sacramento State visit csus.edu/giving.
Above: Eva Schwartz observes as her father Don Fields works with Sac State physical therapy student
Chelsea McCormick. Below right: Schwartz and Fields dance on her wedding day.
I don't know if I'll ever have another
experience like this, to be able to work so
closely with a family."
Johnson, Hahn and McCormick
were eager to take on Fields as a patient.
Elaine Gardner, Casey Mokres and
Esther "Teia" Jung worked with Fields
throughout the 2012-13 school year, but
they embarked on their clinical rotations
in May. Before leaving, the students
made sure Fields was left in good hands.
"I was friends with Casey and she
emailed me asking if I would ask our
class if anyone was interested in working
with Don," McCormick explained. "I
said, 'I want to do it.' Emily was sitting
next to me, and she said, 'I'll do it too.'"
The physical therapy sessions are
valuable for Fields, but also for Schwartz,
who spends six to seven hours nearly
every day with her father.
"He gets to be around young people,
he gets to be outside and it's fun for
him," Schwartz says. "With me, it's his
daughter being a pain. I'm very strict.
I'm obsessed with every chance we get to
Sac State Torchlight
do more rehab. When the students are
here, I can leave. I can move on for a few
hours."
Schwartz also turned to Sac State's
Maryjane Reese Language, Speech and
Hearing Center to assist her father with
his speech, which has also improved
dramatically over the past year.
"I'm not very good with his speech
because I can understand him, but no
one else can," Schwartz says. "It was nice
having someone else listen to him and
tell us what he needs to work on."
Speech pathology and audiology
students Emalee Sharp, Hayden Zen,
Patti Osterholm and Hillary Vigil
worked with Fields as he prepped for the
toast at his daughter's wedding. It capped
an epic day celebrating the Schwartz'
union and Fields' remarkable progress in
recovery.
"He gave his toast, he walked, he
danced," Schwartz says. "It was perfect."
Courtesy Photo